Facebook Search Graph

FACEBOOK SEARCH GRAPH – It was only yesterday that I wrote the article ‘Is Facebook about to collapse?‘ which was born from the reports that over 600,000 UK users had shunned Facebook during December 2012.

Facebook recently announced a new development and it was widely speculated that Facebook was about to develop its own handheld device, either a small tablet or smartphone. In fact it appears that it was neither as Facebook announced to the world’s media the development and launch of the Facebook Search Graph.

So what is Facebook Search Graph and how will it help it’s users to get more from using Facebook? Facebook Search Graph is not an Internet Search Engine but rather an inter-connected search system for it users. This, according to Facebook, allows users to search for photos, information, friends, places and even topic on what their friends and other people are interested in. For a full explanation watch the videos below.

This move, by Facebook, appears to be another step forward in its rivalry with Google + and with Google + really struggling to compete, in terms of attracting a wider audience, this could well hurt Google + and its position in the social network market.

Some experts are dubious as to how Facebook Search Graph will tackle Privacy Issues, however Facebook has clearly stated that Facebook Search Graph is Privacy Aware and new privacy elements have been added to allow people to block information they don’t want their certain friends to view.

I have to admit, after taking a look around Facebook Search Graph it is very intuitive and easy to use. The results appear clean, highly relevant and easy to use, which leads me to suspect, considering its newly formed relationship with Microsoft Bing, that this could be the first step forward to creating a serious contender for Google Search, and considering Google’s stranglehold on the search market, this would be a welcome alternative.

With Google’s increasing developments of its algorithms that is removing more and more content from its index, often to the benefit of Google itself, I for one would like to see a serious contender to force Google to deliver greater variety in its results other than deliver content that either benefits them directly or what it perceives is useful.